Category: Oddities & Sightings

The third generation Golf was not the model line’s finest hour – not by a long shot. So what have we here?

Version 3.5 (c) DTW

Former Volkswagen design supremo, Herbert Schäfer once proclaimed that only two people on this little garden planet of ours were endowed with the necessary skill, judgement and stylistic nous to create a VW Golf – those being originator, Giorgetto Giugiaro and a certain Herbert Schäfer.

It will be hard to keep this post focused on ashtrays since the car taking centre stage today represents a new-for-me footnote in N. American automotive history: Imperial (by Chrysler)

The very top of the range: 1974 Imperial Le Baron coupe, detail.

It’s back to E-Z Biler in Them, Denmark. It’s back to 1974, the year from which this car comes, a time when drinking, smoking and consuming huge amounts of petrol all very suddenly became less and less desirable in relation to motoring.

Since this car was probably conceived just before the first oil crisis, it’s in many ways a fantastic representative of the peak of the post-war period mentality, with its innocent (or ignorant) unfettered consumption. With money flowing so freely, the incentive to chase it by offering wilder and wilder flights of consumer fancy was huge. And irresistible. That is the only way to Continue reading “To The Azimuth, Flying On Our Moods”

Reassessing the familiar and seemingly unremarkable under cover of darkness.

(c) DTW

There is something deliciously atmospheric about walking through a familiar landscape late at night. The normally bustling streets are silent, the lighting casts interesting reflections and even the mundane can become suffused with mystery and wonder.

I have walked past this particular Freelander innumerable times about my daily business and apart from the fact that it appears to be remarkably well-preserved for an eleven year old vehicle in this part of our perpetually rain-sodden isle, I have never really cast it a second glance. Yet parked against the backdrop of the apartment block’s fluorescent walkways, with the sodium glow of the streetlights casting warmer pinkish tones upon its paintwork, the architectural qualities of the Land-Rover’s design stopped me in my tracks. The scene simply begged to Continue reading “Everything Merges With the Night”

Outdated, outclassed and eclipsed by modern, less compromised utility vehicles, the Land Rover Defender has become an anachronism. Not round these parts.

(c) DTW

Despite a well-documented (and perhaps these days rather overstated) predilection for drinking, storytelling and singing songs, the Irish are not a nation especially prone to frivolity – especially when it comes to the subject of car ownership. In fact the average dog-walking Driven to Writer seeking diverting automotive ephemera finds it somewhat meagre fare for the most part. Yet here, at the gateway to the Wild Atlantic Way, one notices certain surprising patterns of ownership, assuming one develops the requisite eyes to Continue reading “Lay of the Land(ie)”

With no regard to the risk of either opprobrium or canine displeasure, we stop to appreciate a flawed rarity.

(c) DTW

While it could never be considered an outright penance, Alfa Romeo ownership could nevertheless be classified as something more akin to a calling, much like medicine, the religious orders, or perhaps, care work. Certainly here at Ireland’s Southern tip, the Biscione tends to be regarded with dark suspicion and their owners with a mixture of pity, mystification and at times, outright horror. In previous, less secular times, some might even have Continue reading “Our Love to Admire”

When I saw an example of this car while running at the weekend my camera was snug and safe at home. So, to paraphrase ourselves “due to the lack of original photos, stock images have been used“. It’s an Infiniti and one of ten examples of this model in Denmark.

What do I call this car? At the Danish car sales website Bilbasen, it’s an FX35. If you ask about that model name, Wikipedia identify it is as an Infiniti QX70, on sale from 2013 to 2017 and it’s patently not that. Dialling up that name at Google brings up everything Infiniti has ever made, but mostly QXs of one sort of another. It is probably not insignificant that Infiniti’s determined inability to Continue reading “Winter Beams Cast Strong Shadows”

From time to time, DTW fulfills its duty as the automotive website of record. That means occasionally running an item that, on the face of it, may not set so many pulses racing.

Where is the devil?

However, I would like to nonetheless make a small effort draw your attention to a car which is important because of and despite its ubiquity. It is relatively easy to write about the extreme and the intense. As a result the vast middle ground where life is lived is neglected. I actually once tried to keep a diary of ordinary experiences (I had more time on my hands in 2009) and noted the problem of seeming to lionise the mundane, merely by noting it.

There is something of a terrible beauty about a down at heel luxury car.

(c) DTW

Here on Ireland’s storm-lashed rural South coast, we are routinely assailed by Atlantic weather systems, meaning that precipitation is very much a fact of daily life. (Albeit, not in the photos here appended). Hence, throughout the winter months, nothing stays pristine for long and even if it did, it would only very quickly become wet and grubby again.

The other day I had the opportunity to see a 1998-1994 Lincoln Continental roaming around the city. Unfortunately for Driven to Write’s readers I could not take a photo in time, so a stock photo will have to suffice. Until that point I had not seen one of these in motion. My impression of the car differed markedly from that based on photos like the image above.

It’s a typical Audi, graced by a purity of design which somehow destroys any chances of passionate engagement**. Guten Tag, Herr Hundert.

1982 Audi 100

The Audi 100 affirmed its maker’s commitment to design which tightly fused the requirements of engineering and the stringencies of high aesthetic standards. Despite all that focused effort expended on visual refinement, nobody loves these cars, do they? You can say the same about Renault’s equally well-considered 25 of 1983. The 1982 Opel Rekord got caught in the middle of the aero-rationalist phase and so shows traces of its 1977 sharp edges intermixed with a smoother frontal aspect. Unloved also. We are forced to Continue reading “Your Gaze Was Like A Solstice Beam Reaching My Darkened Heart”

Of a little more substance than the photo earlier we have a Renault commercial van. Driven To Rrite is almost beside itself with pleasure to have a chance show this fine specimen, from about 1984-1991.

Renault Express

They named it Express for the N. European market; for German-speaking nations they badged it as the Rapid. The UK and Ireland knew it as the Renault Extra. Whatever you call it, it’s a bit of a treasure, like Opel’s Combi but smaller – the 1986 Combo “A” was Kadett-based and then Opel decided to Continue reading “Into The Silences Like Mists Do Thoughts Of Her Flow”

1.4 million Opel Rekord E models sold, dear readers. This one is still running though maybe not for so much longer.

Nothing new under the sun, is there? When the current generation of Opel Insignia appeared, it upset me that there was a false pane in the side-glass. Since then I noticed the previous Mazda6 came very close to the same supposed sin. If we go back to 1977 we find the Rekord D1 where the last element of the apparent DLW is a black panel or fake pane.

Since the day’s other article was a little on the short side, I felt like I’d treat to you to one of my sightings on a recent visit to Sweden.

The same year Honda dazzled us with the NSX and Lotus revealed the Carlton, BMW dazzled us with this mediocrity. I had forgotten that 1990 was such a special year. Continue reading “In Capricorn’s Orbit”

Driventowrite is the name and to some extent the “driven” part corresponds to a form of sub-clinical obsessive-compulsive disorder related to arm-rests in mid-size passenger cars. But there’s a bit more to it than that.

Good grief. It’s a 2011-2018 Ford Focus saloon.

That’s why today’s car is here**. I would absolutely love to know what decision-making process led Opel to drop the rear-centre arm-rest in their “J” series Astra (2009-2015) while Ford decided that the rear-centre arm-rest would grace the saloon version of today´s Focus (but not the estate or hatchback). Actually I think I know… we’llContinue reading “A Photo For Sunday: 2011-2017 Ford Focus Saloon”

It’s in many ways just an ordinary sight south of the Alps yet I can’t help my fascination with these fine cars. You don’t see them much in Denmark, so rarity is part of the appeal. But…

Lancia Ypsilon in Brixen, Sudtirol

… I will concede this interest is definitely peculiar to me, that among the short list of cars I will always stop and look at for as long as I can is included a car like the one above: Continue reading “A Photo For Sunday”

A soft day for a first sighting. The lesser-spotted i30 Fastback appraised.

While the remainder of Europe dessicates amidst the most protracted heatwave of recent times, here at that question mark of a landmass at the Atlantic’s cusp, a more habitual form of summer has returned. Leaden skies, horizontal mist and high humidity.

Seeing one of these is something of an event so I went to town with the photography. This is very probably the same one I saw last time, in another part of town.

As well as its brief life, the iQ is famous for being a latter day Cadillac Cimarron. Aston Martin smothered iQs in leather and sold them as posh city runabouts. Aston Martin understandably don’t want to disown their heritage, yes. When you read this kind of text you feel they might have overdone it though: “Cygnet was conceived, designed and built as a true Aston Martin. Including the many synonymous design cues featured across our model range including authentic zinc side-strakes, distinctive bonnet meshes, iconic grille and the legendary badge”.

There are other websites with better photos than the ones I take. I gave up taking arty photos of cars ages ago because I am simply no good at making a good car look any better than it might be.

Some cars are easier than others to work off though and this Saab is one of them. It also helps that the owner has chosen to give the car some steam-punk charisma. Is there a small vogue for this in my little area I wonder because if IContinue reading “Manchester, second arrest in”

Exactly three years ago, DTW introduced its monthly theme called ‘Evolution’. So why not come back to it and extend it with a nice example?

Two generations of Subaru XV

This sight of two Subaru XVs in our house’s parking garage is very striking indeed, as it gave me the rare opportunity of seeing two generations of a car next to each other. The colour was perfect too, both cars in white which makes it easy to read the design. This coincidence made me Continue reading “Evolution – Much Ado About Nothing”

Hanging about on my camera/s are photos which never seem to make it into an article of any kind. Today, I will try to get some of them out into the public domain and free up some space on my memory cards.

1995-2002 Toyota Corolla

The images constitutes a preliminary non-verbal note to myself. After a while I lose a strong sense of what motivated the images, many of which are not especially striking or nicely composed (as you can see here). On a photo -by-photo basis I have to ask myself what on earth made me Continue reading “Honey and Bleach”

In another time and another place the founding authors of Driven to write discussed forgotten cars (if we can remember them). To first forget a car you have to have known about it in the first place. So, that’s why this car wasn’t mentioned first-time around.

2002-2007 Honda Accord estate

The 2002-2007 Honda Accord estate might be a car I knew about for a few minutes in 2002. After being informed of its existence, I must have promptly forgotten all about it. I can’t really be said to have known about it in the way I know about/forgot about the Honda Legend, the Mazda Demio or Porche Cayenne. The estate version must have been a slow seller as I have not seen enough of them to register its existence (or re-register its existence) until a week or so back.

We have something of a real rarity here: made in small in numbers in the first place and not merely because rust and lack of interest killed them by the thousand. It has to be a Bristol.

2000 Bristol Blenheim

Again, like so many of the photos I took in Dublin in Easter 2018, the grey light sabotaged my chances of getting as striking an image as one might find here. (And many thanks to our Leinster correspondent for the use of the photographic equipment). However, as with a sighting of Loch Ness Monsters, one does not put down one’s camera and wait until the sun beams at precisely the right angle before snapping. If you want to Continue reading “A Photoseries for Sunday: 2000 Bristol Blenheim”

After a bit of a hiatus, Driventowrite’s ashtray series is back. Today, how the decline in the popularity of cigar smoking made in-car satellite navigation possible.

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For this article, I had the pleasure taking a closer look at our Dublin correspondent, Mick’s BMW 728i. At the same time I had a chance for a small and very tame test drive, another one of those revelations that comes unexpectedly now and, to some extent, again.

Nought to sixty in under 5 seconds, courtesy of a V10. No door handles. What do people do with cars like this in Denmark, I have to ask?

1992-2002 Dodge Viper

I really don’t know. What I do know is that cars such as this are where there is overlap between the mainstream mass manufacturers and the fringe enterprises (covered since July 2016 with forensic thoroughness in the celebrated Far From The Mainstream series). The difference is that large-scale manufacturers can call on the expertise of seasoned car designers and costly, advanced specialist manufacturing processes.

The Wiesmann story ended in 2014 with liquidation. It began in 1988 with the launch of the MF30, a rear-wheel drive retro-inspired roadster powered by a 3.0 six-cylinder BMW engine. What occurred in between?

Weisman produced four iterations of their signature theme, variants of the 1950s roadster idea. Idiosyncacy is the name of the game at Dülmen. The bodies stayed much the same while names and engines changed as time went by. The second car, the 1993 MF-3 (confusingly, a smaller number than the predecessor) had a different BMW engine, a BMW M54 with 3.2 litres capacity.

The first series was the MF, coming in two versions with some lesser variants known as the MF 28 and MF 35, each having a different BMW engine and minor trim variations. In 2003 Wiesmann felt it was a good idea to Continue reading “Far From The Mainstream: Wiesmann”

Driven to write has something of a jones for these tiny cars. Hell would be being asked to choose between this and a Bristol 411.

Small. Perfect. Perfectly small.

Well, I say Driven to write likes the Honda Beat as if we are a gestalt consciousness devoid of personal preferences. But DTW isn’t really, it’s a concatenation of different automotive tastes that miraculously seems not to be in conflict (except about chrome and brightwork and maybe fake wood in a car interior). We don’t talk about that much.

Today’s car lives in Dublin, Ireland (hence the grey lighting of late March ’18). I’ve seen this example before and indeed, the only other Cappucino I’ve set my eyes on also crossed my trail in Dublin (a black one). Ireland’s roads and traffic conditions being what they are (bad), the Capuccino is a surpassingly intelligent choice alongside a Rover, Cadillac or Jaguar. The roads and country lanes can be narrow. High speed matters a lot less than the sensation of high speed. Being so low to the ground and so Spartan, the Cappucino must Continue reading “A Few Photos For Sunday: Suzuki Cappucino”

Dark blue really flattens a car’s form. In all but the best light the shapes are concealed. Let us try and look past that colour.

1996-2001 Toyota Camry

Rather annoyingly I saw the same model in more photogenic metallic light grey yesterday while on the move. I couldn’t get a snap. We will have to make do with this image.

For a car sold in so many countries and in such large volumes, the limited engine choice is a puzzle. You could only get these with a 2.2 litre four or a V6 of 3.0 litres capacity. I’d expect another two engines for this, or even three: a 2.0, a 2.5 and a diesel of some sort.Continue reading “Despair And Joy Dance Their Pavane”

When this series began first I used stock photos. Since then, I have switched to ones I have taken myself (or have been sent by our local correspondents). Today, I revert to stock images but with good reason.

Sales success is relative. Some unimpressive sales figures go unremembered and stay that way. BMW sold fewer 728s per year than Citroen did the XM or Peugeot the 604, both viewed as laugh-until-you-faint failures.

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Do I sound bitter? I suppose so. Injustice always rankles. The E23 (write it down, learn it, use it: “e-twenty three”) can be defended by its defenders though. The car represented a new market for BMW so anything was better than nothing. The next model sold a bit better (and not worse). The XM’s sales fitted into a downpointing jagged line, a nose-dive to extinction. Towards the end the production line at Rennes was a carpark. The 605’s sales held steady at or near irrelevance, so they judge it. Continue reading “Photos For Sunday: 1977-1986 BMW 728”

Scanning through the ANE website I noticed what I thought was a case of mistaken identity.

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The title of an article was about the incoming Audi A7, but, in my haste, my brain registered that the accompanying photo was of a Vauxhall Insignia Grand Sport. Closer inspection revealed that my mind was playing tricks on me, but looking at photos of each car from the front three quarters made me feel better that it was a (fairly) easy mistake to make.

An encounter with the Ka’s more glamourous cousin has prompted Driven to Write to seek the word on the Street.

Image: Driven to Write

The 2002 Ford StreetKa was first shown at the 2000 Turin motor show as a concept, but its roots go back to 1996, when Ghia presented the Saetta, a teaser for that year’s Ka hatchback, but also the StreetKa’s direct forebear.

Recently I failed to challenge the DTW readership with a “mystery car“. I might has well have taken a photo of the car’s badge you guessed it so soon: Renault 16. What’s so good about them?

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Normally one must track a 16 down at a car show or find one for sale if you want to view an example. Seeing such a car by chance is an event and one I didn’t have much time to savour, alas. These photos (above) got into my iPhone in under three minutes, something of a pity as the car merits careful examination – three minutes is just not enough.

Up until these monsters remained a minority interest, I didn’t really mind them. And they came in vibrant colours too.

1995 Toyota Landcruiser 3-door

The two-tone paint humanises what you could call, after all, a gas-guzzling leviathan. It’s the kind of thing which ought not to be let out of fields or to leave private green lanes. But it’s hard to dislike this car, isn’t it? I always felt that Toyota Landcruisers were for people serious about off-roading – it’s these UN use and not LR’s dodgy toys.

Here this one stands, shiny and clean and entirely unmarked, on my street. I am happy to

From time to time, I receive the occasional photo from the wild of some interesting automotive oddity from friends and family. Today’s subject however, I’m forced to admit, had me stumped.

“We’re not in Toyota City any more, WiLL.” A UFO in Cork. Image: PoD (Thanks bruv!)

Now, I consider myself to be reasonably authoritative on matters automotive, at least when it comes to the European industry anyway. Admittedly any putative knowledge tends to evaporate once we metaphorically cross the Atlantic but I have rarely if ever failed to correctly identify anything flung my way – until now. Even I had to admit defeat on this one.

What we are looking at is better known as a WiLL Cypha. I expect that unlike me, you (our informed and highly knowledgeable DTW readers) know your Japanese oddities and are incredulously shaking your heads at my ignorance, but for those who Continue reading “Ridicule is Nothing to be Scared Of”

Visually speaking, the 2006 Citroën C-Triomphe didn’t quite live up to its name, which may explain why it remains something of an automotive unicorn today.

2006 Citroen C-Triomphe/C4 Sedan. Image: citroenet

PSA announced this particular iteration of their C-segment contender in 2004, a car which replaced the unloved and visually underwhelming Xsara model line. This car, believed to have been the work of Donato Coco and Bertrand Rapatel under the supervision of Jean-Pierre Ploué marked the beginning of a renaissance at Citroën’s Vélizy styling centre. Adieu to the creative torpidity of the Blakeslee years, welcome back creativity. Theoretically at least. Continue reading “Arc de Triomphe”

Don’t be fooled by the musicals, the rain in Spain falls on the coastline too.

Image: Driven to Write

Marbella in October can be precipitous and to be fair, this was the only day it rained during my recent visit, so I’m not complaining. The Irish are used to getting wet anyway, so I was hardly going to let a drop in atmospheric pressure interrupt my ongoing quest for a green car. However, while pounding the streets, I Continue reading “A Photo for Sunday – They Grow Up so Fast”

Citroen’s C4 Cactus is a popular choice in Southern Europe, but signs are that it’s fading. Is the fun over already?

A common Costa del Sol sight. All images: Driven to Write

One of the drawbacks of being something of a novelty act is that there is often a risk that its appeal will fade. Upon its introduction in 2014, Citroën’s C4 Cactus was viewed as something of a character amidst a sector somewhat devoid of it. With styling which combined a studied practicality and ruggedness with a cheerful and largely unaggressive demeanour, initial sales for the model were strong, with 28,974 registered in 2014. Continue reading “Cactus World News”

Driven to Write’s accidental tourist discovers an unusual way to amuse himself on holiday.

Corsa Verde in downtown Marbella. All Images: Driven to Write

Following a recent sojourn back in Ireland, your correspondent has pitched up in the Costa del Sol for a well-merited change of scenery – and climate. But given that I appear to have forgotten how to behave on holiday, how is a Driven to Writer to spend his downtime, other than to Continue reading “Green Car Bingo”

Advance apologies to the Délégation générale à la langue française et aux langues de France and their eagle-eyed cohorts regarding the title header.

All Images: Driven to Write

Earlier in the year I spoke at some length about Renault’s Mégane Grand Coupé offering, a car which is not only unavailable in drear old Blighty, but also (somewhat surprisingly) within Renault’s homeland. Introduced to the Irish market earlier this year, the Mégane sedan (sorry, but it’s neither grand nor a coupe) appears to have taken off here, with my highly unscientific visual survey suggesting Continue reading “Mégane à Trois Volumes”

For anyone who’s ever enjoyed looking at an engine and trying to find out which bit does what, such a device is a pleasure to behold. The V-2 is arranged longitudinally to the body, presumably for better balance and cooling. The engine rests in a tubular frame which is also clearly visible. Pretty much every important part is easy to find which means that you can Continue reading “Ambling Between the Walls”

Driven to Write (with little thought for his own safety) addresses the big one.

Image: Driven to Write

In every Jaguar aficionado’s lifetime he must approach X200 and try, really try to view it with something remotely akin to an objective gaze. Because, let us not mince words, it’s the Sargasso Sea of Jaguars. The mad aunt in the attic, the great un-namable. But has sufficient time elapsed to Continue reading “What We Talk About When We Talk About the S-Type”

It is a Microcar MC-2 and appears to be a peculiar blend of the Renault Avantime and Audi A2. It’s one of three microcars I’ve spotted recently. More can be read here. One sees a lot of them in Germany and none in Ireland or Denmark. Continue reading “Under the Upside”

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Driven To Write was founded by a group of writers frustrated with the one-dimensional nature of much of today’s motor journalism. Our aim is to have a distinctive voice and to publish a diversity of writing you won’t find anywhere else. We hope you agree.

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